398 Miscellaneous. 



trious naturalist, first established in Sicily, and four of whose works 

 on the natural history of that island were published at Palermo in 

 1810-1815, removed, about the year 1817, to the United States. 

 During his residence there, he worked assiduously on the natural 

 history of the States, which were almost virgin ground — chiefly the 

 plants and fishes. As yet, none of their famed river mollusks had 

 been described, and M. Rafinesque sent to Europe in 1 820, for pub- 

 lication in the * Annales Generales des Sciences Physitiues ' of Brus- 

 sels, a paper entitled " Monographic des Coquilles bivalves fluviatiles 

 de la riviere Ohio, contenant douze genera et soixante-huit especes." 

 Here is an instance in which as many as sixty-eight species of the 

 North-American river shells, including all the principal species, were 

 described for the first time, so recently as 1820, in a work of scien- 

 tific authority ; and yet they have been passed over by American 

 writers as not being sufficiently clear for identification. But if the 

 descriptions of the whole sixty-eight are not clear enough, there can 

 be no mistake about the majority of them ; and I am happy to say 

 that, in a monograph of the genus Unio (now in course of publica- 

 tion in the 'Conchologia Iconica'), I hope, with the assistance of 

 Mr. Anthony, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to succeed in restoring 

 the priority of most of M. Rafinesque's names. 



I have l)een led to offer this communication, not only for the sake 

 of making the acceptable announcement of the forthcoming publica- 

 tion of Messrs. Binney and Tryon's reprint, but with the view of 

 upholding an important principle in nomenclature, which ajjpears to 

 be much too readily cast aside. In Mr. P. P. Carpenter's paper " On 

 Mollusca of the West Coast of North America" (Brit. Assoc. Re- 

 ports for 18G3, p. 677) occurs the following passage : — 



" It is unfortunate that in the two most important branches of 

 North-American freshwater mollusks, the Melaniadse and the Unio- 

 nidaa, there exists a radical difference of opinion between the leading 

 writers, which has sometimes assumed the appearance of personal 

 animosity. Malacologists east of the Atlantic, unwilling to become 

 partisans where the leading nomenclators of the rival schools are 

 equally honoured, have to a great extent declined to pay attention to 

 the unexhausted riches of the American waters, regarding any settle- 

 ment of the disputed points as hopeless. Dr. Isaac Lea, who has 

 spared no expense in illustrating his publications of the results of a 

 lifelong study, follows the restrictions on the priority-rule allowed 

 by the British Association Committee. * Other writers, however, 

 claim a certainty in identifying the supposed species of Rafinesque 

 and other similarly inaccurate authors, which would be considered 

 by most English naturalists as not warranted by the few loose words 

 of description gi^-en. It would be well if the student were permitted 

 to start from the first carefully ascertained land-mark, rather than 

 from the defaced tracks of the first hunter." 



On the principle involved in this passage, many of the tracks of 

 the hunter Linnseus must be regarded as being defaced, and probably 

 one-half of the species of the * Systema Naturae ' would have to be 

 set aside. I am. Gentlemen, your obedient Servant, 



Sutton, Heston, Oct. 2, 1864. LoVELL Reete. 



